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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet l.

E. TATHAM; PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR GASIFYING'HYDROGARBON OILS. No. 535,310. Patented Mar. 5, 1895.

Wizwow ModeL) 4 Sheets--Shee t 2.

E. TATH'AM.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS-FOR GASIFYING HYDROGARBON OILS. No. 535,310. Patented Mar. 5, 1895.

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(N0 Mod'el 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

E. TATHAM. .LBR-OGE SS 0? AND APPARATUS FOR GASIFYING HYDROUARBON OILS. No. 535,310. Patented Mar. 5, 1895.

- FIG. 2.

'(No Model.) 4Sheets-Sheet 4.

. '13. TATHAM PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR Gr-ASIFYING HYDROGARBON OILS. No. 535,310. Patented Mar. 5,1895.

UNITED STATES PATENT Onnron.

EDWIN TATHAM, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR GASIFYING HYDROCARBON Oil-S,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent-No. 535,310, dated March 5, 1895.

Application filed June 5,1894. Serial No. 513,553- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, EDWIN TA'IHAM, engineer, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at Oolfe Lodge, Lewisham Hill, Lewisham, in the county of Kent, England, have invented certain Improvements in Processes of and Apparatus for Distilling or Cracking and Gasifying Hydrocarbon Oils and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the subjecting of hydrocarbon oils and the like (I will refer to them for brevity as oils) to distillation for cracking and gasifying them, and the object of my invention is to provide for the carrying on of the operation in a more efficient manner than hitherto, and to produce a gas of uniformly high standard.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the gasifying apparatus constructed according to this invention, and Fig. 1 is an elevation of the condenser and meters. Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation of a device for automatically cutting off the supply of oil to the distilling retorts or vessels, and Fig. 4 shows separately a split tube for the supply of-oil into the retorts as hereinafter described.

A is a bench of retorts, or vessel s,in which the oil is cracked and gasified; the said retorts being arranged in tiers a b c 01 one above another and preferably inclined as shown in Fig. 2. These tiers of retorts are so arranged as to be heated to diderent degrees of temperature the lowermost tier (1, which, in the arrangement shown is nearest the furnace, being heated to the highest temperature, the next tier 1? above, being heated to a lower temperature, the next tier 0, above the tier 1) being heated to a still lower temperature, and the tier cl, being heated to the lowest temperature.

Four tiers of retorts are shown in the bench A but I do not restrict myself to this number of tiers nor to the number of retorts shown in each tier. B is a tank, or vessel containing the oil to be cracked and gasified which oil passes from the said tank bya pipe 6 into feeding devices 0 (one of which is shown in section in Fig. 3 and is hereinafter more fully described) from which it passes by pipes 6*, into the upper ends of the top tier of retorts cl in the bench A and is conducted by pipes to the lower ends of the said retorts (for example in the same manner as is shown at e in Fig. 2 with regard to one of the retorts a). As these pipes are liable to become choked with deposited carbon I prefer to make them as shown in Fig. 4 in longitudinal parts socured by rings, so that by removing the ring at the end the parts of the tube can. be sepa* rated and the carbon readily removed.

The pipes may be secured in place and readily removed by making them with a collar on which abuts against the opening in the lid through which the pipe is passed. They can be secured by clay or the like placed over this collar and by a cross bar after the manner of tightening up retort lids.

In the retorts d, the oil is cracked, or partially distilled, the gas, thus generated pass ing therefrom by the outlets 9 into a pipe h and through the valve X into the ascension pipe 7: which leads to a condenser in which the heavy products from the distillation of the oil deposit. The condenser is situated above the bench of retorts and consists of a vessel D arranged horizontally and divided'by partitions it into separate compartments E, F, G, the number of compartments depending upon the number tiers of retorts in the bench A. Into the first compartment E dips the ascension pipe '5 into which compartment also dips the two ends of an inverted U pipe II one leg of which communicates by a branch Z with the pipe '5 while the other leg of the said pipe H communicates by a branch Z with one leg of a similar inverted U pipe H dipping into the compartment F in the vessel D. The other leg of the pipe H communicates by a branch Z with one leg of an inverted U pipe H dipping into the third compartment G in the vessel D while the other leg of the said pipe H is in communication by a branch Z and pipe I with a gas holder or with a meter K through which the gas passes from the condenser to a gas holder. The heavier products, which pass with the gas from the retorts, deposit in the compartment E of the condenser and pass therefrom by a pipe 6 into feeding devices (3 and thence by pipes f into the bottom tier of retorts a in the bench A which are subject to the greatest heat. In these retorts the said products are again distilled the gas generated passingfrorn these retorts by outlets g into a pipe h leading through the valve X to the ascension pipe iand thence to the condenser as before. The next lighter products of the distillation deposit in the compartment F of the condenser and pass therefrom into the pipe f by which they are conducted to feeding devices 0 and thence by pipesf into the retorts b which are not heated to so high a temperature as the retorts a. The gas generated by the redistillation of the products in these retorts 19 passes therefrom bythe outletsminto the pipe at and through the valve X into the ascension pipe 1' through which the gas passes to the condenser. The lightest condensible products of distillation deposit in the next compartment G of the condenser and pass therefrom by the pipe 0 into feeding devices C and from thence by the pipes 19 into the retorts cwhich retorts are not heated to so high a temperature as the retorts b they being situated in a less heated part of the furnace. The gas generated by the redistillation of the products in these retorts passes therefrom through the outlets q into the pipe 0" through the valve X and thence through the ascension pipe 1' to the condenser. Instead of the outlets g g m g and the pipes h h n and 4 being situated on top of the retorts as shown they may be arranged on the under side so that the products of distillation will descend in passing from the retorts. The whole of the gas passes from the condenser by the pipe I into the meter K and is conducted therefrom by a pipe X to a gas holder or it may pass to a gas holder direct. The deposited products may pass direct from the vessel D of the condenser into the pipes e f and 0 or as shown in Fig. 2 they may pass from the vessel D into another similarly divided vessel D with which the pipes e f and 0 are connected. At the ends of each of the pipes h r n h there is an escape cock 'y in addition to the valve X the latter being for the purpose of shutting off either tier of retorts for any purpose for example for clearing carbon from the retorts. For instance if the lower retorts become choked the valve X in the pipe h2 is shut and the escape cock g on the same pipe is opened so that the retorts a can be attended to while the others are still working.

A regulated supply of oxygen may be admitted to the apparatus to mix with the products of distillation preferably while they are still hot in their passage from the retorts to the condenser. This improves the illuminating power and the traveling properties of the gases. A convenient arrangement for supplying the oxygen consists of a meter L 0perated from the meter K by means of an endless chain M passing round sprocket wheels N and-O fast on the axes of the meters the relative sizes of the meters and wheels N and 0 being regulated according to the proportion of oxygen required to be mixed with the products of distillation. Usually about fifteen per cent. of oxygen to eighty-five per cent. of

the gas will be sufficient but it varies somewhat with the density of the gas the greater the density the greater the amount of oxygen desirable. Oxygen enters the meter L by the pipe P and passes out therefrom by the pipe Q which conducts it into the interior of the ascension pipe 11 to mix with the products of distillation passing through the said pipe.

' The aforesaid feeding device for each retort consists of a vessel 0 (see Fig. 3) into which the oil from the tank B or the deposited products from the condenser D (as the case may be) enters and passes through a tube S depending from the bottom of the vessel into an outer or surrounding tube or cha mber T. The oil and products pass from the tube or chamber T at the upper end thereof into a pipe U (corresponding to the pipes marked a f and f in Fig. 1) leading to the interior of the retort with which it is connected. Inside the vessel 0 is a float or inverted bell V upon which rests one arm of a weighted lever S carried on the axis of a cock t on the pipe e (or the pipes e f 0 Fig. 1 as the case may be) by which the oil is conducted into the vessel 0. Should the outlet from the retort become choked the gas will ascend by the feed pipe U and by pressing on the liquid will cause the float or bellV to rise and turn the cock :5 until the weight on the lever S overbalances and closes the cockt so as to cut ofi the supply of liquid to the vessel.

The pipes cf 0 and e which conduct the oil and the deposited products of distillation into the feeding devices 0 O O and O are provided with stop cocks so that the supply of oil and products to any one or more of the tiers of retorts may be regulated and shut off when required.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is- 1. The improved process of making illuminating gas from hydro-carbon oils, which process consists in vaporizing the crude oil at a moderately low temperature, and mixing with the vapors from the oil, pure oxygen (in quantity governed by the quantity of gas pr0- duced) to fix the gas, separating the light and heavy constituents of the vapors by condensing the same according to their different specific gravities, the several constituents thus separated being then heated to different and higher temperatures than the crude oil, and then conducting the vapors from these sep arated constituents to the vapors from the crude oil, the cycle of operations being re peated till the Whole of the constituents are converted into gas, substantially as hereinbefore described.

2. In apparatus for the manufacture of gas from hydro-carbon oils, the combination of a retort or retorts heated to a moderately low temperature in a bench of retorts in which other retorts are arranged so as to be heated ICO to higher temperatures, means for supplying crude oil to the coolest retort or retorts, a condenser having different compartments forseparating the constituents according to their specific gravities a pipe or passage -for conducting the crude oil vapors from the retort to the condenser, pipes or passages leading from the several compartments of the condenser into the more highly heated retorts, in which the separated constituents are further vaporized and pipes or passages for conducting these vapors into the same passage through which the vapors from the crude oil retort pass to the condenser, all substantially as described.

3. In an apparatus for the manufacture of gas from hydro-carbon oils, the combination of a retort or retorts heated to a moderately low temperature in a bench of retorts in which other retorts are arranged so as to be heated to higher temperatures, means for supplying crude oil to the coolest retort or retorts, a condenser having dilferent compartments for separating the constituents accordingto their specific gravities, a pipe or passage for conducting the crude oil vapors from the retort to the condenser, pipes or passages leading from the several compartments of the con-v denser-into the more highly heated retorts,in which the separated constituents are further vaporized and pipes or passages for conducting these vapors into the same passage through which the vapors from the crude oil retort pass to the condenser, an oxygen supply pipe opening into said passage to the condenser, a meter in the oxygen supply pipe, a meter through which gas passes from the gas apparatus to the place of consumption or storage, and means for operating the oxygen meter from the gas meter, as and for the purpose described.

4:. In apparatus for distilling or cracking and'gasifying hydro-carbon oils, retorts having oil feed pipes extending to near the opposite ends of the retorts from those which they enter and being split longitudinally in parts, and rings for holding the parts together, so as to be capable of being readilytaken apart to clean the interior of the feed pipes, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

E. TA'IHAM.

Witnesses:

LEONARD WALKER, 47 Lc'ncolns Inn Fields, London, W O.

W. I. WEEKS, 31 Lombard Street, London, E. O. 

